The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has begun a new wave of audits of corporations, associations, and firms that are registered under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”). These periodic audits are required under legislation enacted in 2007, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (“HLOGA”). HLOGA requires that registrants be selected for audit on a
November 2013
FTC Denies First Request For More Flexible Parental Consent Methods
The FTC has denied AssertID’s request to recognize a new method for obtaining verifiable parental consent for the online collection, use, and disclosure of personal information from children under 13. The application was the first of its kind to be filed since the FTC added a voluntary parental consent approval process to its revised rule implementing…
Electronic Disclosure: Which Way Are We Going?
By Inside Jobs
A recent GAO Report offers interesting insight into the Department of Labor’s thinking on electronic disclosure.
For the better part of the last ten years, many plan sponsors and service providers have been pushing for more flexibility to provide required disclosures electronically. In particular, they have asked the Labor and Treasury Departments to replace an…
Changes to the “Use-Or-Lose” Rule Add Flexibility to Health FSAs
The IRS issued a notice on October 31 modifying the long-standing “use-or-lose” rule that applies to health flexible spending arrangements (“Health FSAs”). The new rule permits participants to apply up to $500 of unused Health FSA contributions to pay for expenses incurred in the next plan year, if the employer amends its Health FSA to permit…
FCC Seeks Comment on Petitions to Forbear or Clarify New TCPA Rules
By Yaron Dori
Earlier today, the FCC placed on public notice two petitions requesting that the agency clarify or forbear from enforcing certain aspects of its new TCPA regulations that went into effect on October 16, 2013. Those regulations, which we summarized here, created, among other things, a new “prior express written consent” requirement for the transmission…
Texas AG Objections To Transfer of Personal Data Demonstrate Significance of Privacy Policy Disclosures
Last week, dating website PlentyOfFish withdrew its offer to buy bankrupt rival True.com, citing concerns raised by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that the sale would violate True.com’s privacy policy and expose its members to unexpected privacy risks. Two weeks ago, Abbott filed an objection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to block the proposed transfer of…
Potential Savings Opportunity for Sponsors of Self-Insured Medical Plans
By Inside Jobs
By now, employers who sponsor self-insured medical plans are familiar with the fees they must pay to fund Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (“PCORI”) and the Transitional Reinsurance Program. This post describes a detail that can have a significant effect on the amount that each sponsor must pay.
Both fees are calculated as a dollar amount per…